I visited Sunday at the invitation of MONA director Kim Koga, who calls the space PoMONA. Signs are suspended from the ceiling or lean against walls: the Brown Derby, Van de Kamp’s, Western Motel, Billy’s Deli, Larchmont Hardware, Chris and Pitt’s, Eagle Rock Drugs.

The Grauman’s sign is on a rack, standing vertically, and stretches much of the length of the storage area. Paul Greenstein and Richard Ankrom were hard at work, with the goal of having it working by New Year’s.

“It’s probably 65 to 75 percent done,” Greenstein told me.

A closeup of the dragon head, pockmarked with masking tape to indicate the lighting sequence. (Photo by David Allen)

Paul Greenstein marks the Grauman’s dragon head with masking tape indicators of the sequence in which the lights should flash when the wiring is installed. (Photo by David Allen)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

A neon dragon from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is being restored in a Pomona warehouse by Paul Greenstein, front, and Richard Ankrom, rear, on Sunday. (Photo by David Allen)

A hat-shaped neon sign for the old Brown Derby at Hollywood and Vine is among the treasures in storage in Pomona by the Museum of Neon Art. (Photo by David Allen)

Richard Ankrom traces the outline of a piece of neon tubing under the watchful eye of another hard worker, the Midway Building Materials bricklayer. (Photo by David Allen)

Two dragons, one facing each direction, were added to the marquee of the fabled Grauman’s theater in 1958 in an effort to bring back some excitement to the 1927 movie palace. “Star Wars,” “Mary Poppins” and “The Last Picture Show” were among the premieres.

On a theater that resembles a pagoda, the dragon played into the Chinese theme. The green and yellow neon would light up from tail to head, then the sign would go dark except for the eyes and tongue, which would blink in the darkness.

The dragons were taken down in 2001 during another remodel. Both were promised to MONA. But the owners reneged and dumped the signs in a storage yard outdoors, one atop the other, where they became rusted and bent.

A MONA crowd-funding campaign raised $8,300, far short of the $35,000 needed for restoration. But at least the sign was indoors and out of the elements. Aid came unexpectedly earlier this year when a donor offered to fund the restoration.

“He gave us a deadline: six months, Jan. 1,” Koga said.

Yes, sir! With the promise of funding, work began in earnest. The sign’s sheet metal was repaired and power-washed, then painted white. Research by Kurt Wahlner of photos and film clips, especially from a scene in “Blazing Saddles,” gave the team a good idea of the proper colors and the sequence of the animation.

Since October, Ankrom has painted the sign’s lines by hand based on the original, moving as quickly as possible so that the oil-based paint doesn’t spread or show brushstrokes. He also has drawn paper patterns of the letters and the position of the tubing and relays to make the wiring and tube-bending process go faster.

Ankrom, 62, doubts a computer could do what he’s doing due to the sign’s intricacy and the sight-work involved.

By hand, Ankrom said, “is the way they would have done it back in the day.”

Greenstein, 63, who started last week, is doing the wiring. He is replacing the old spaghetti-mess of wires with new 15,000-volt transformers and calculating how to complete the circuits and get each of the roughly 120 pieces of neon to light in sequence.

“If I do it right, we’ll be able to plug all the glass in, turn it on and we’ll roll,” Greenstein said. “If I do it wrong, I’ll do it again.”

The pair, who each have four decades in the sign business, traded stories of signs they’ve worked on. The deadpan Greenstein gazed down at the paper pattern on the cement floor, a mirror image of the sign above it, as he figured out each relay. “I wish I were smarter,” he remarked.

He called Ankrom “the brains of the operation,” which prompted a bark of laughter from the artist, who was on his hands and knees, drawing with pencil around an old piece of neon. “I’m tracing!” he protested.

After glass tubing arrived Monday from Oakland, there’s still work to be done through December. Koga said an unveiling and lighting ceremony for MONA members will take place early in 2018, although when the public will get a chance to see the sign is unknown. She cheerfully acknowledged that MONA has been talking about opening the space for several years without ever doing so.

Regardless, the sign is likely to stay in Pomona for the foreseeable future since its size makes it impractical to transport to Glendale.

Tthe Grauman’s dragons were among the last of the great neon signs, Ankrom and Greenstein said, because tastes were changing to simpler, plastic signs without the gaudy look. “By the time this sign was up,” Greenstein said, “neon was done.”

They said they have no qualms about restoring signs that may be seen only in a museum or warehouse. Ankrom said he had to quit getting personally invested in the signs he makes because the businesses eventually failed. Greenstein said his best sign was for a bar that closed after eight months.

“If this sign stays inside, it will last 50 or 60 years,” Greenstein said. “A sign like this, I’d rather see it in its original setting. But this is a good second best.”

David Allen, who’s bringing up the rear, writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, visit insidesocal.com/davidallen, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook, follow @davidallen909 on Twitter and buy “Getting Started” and “Pomona A to Z.”

Since 1997, David Allen has been taking up valuable newsprint and pixels at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, where he is a columnist and blogger (insidesocal.com/davidallen). Among his specialties: city council meetings, arts and culture, people, places, local history, dining and a log in a field that resembled the Loch Ness monster. The Illinois native has spent his newspaper career in California, starting in 1987 at the Santa Rosa News-Herald and continuing at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Clarion, Petaluma Argus-Courier and Victor Valley Daily Press. A resident of Claremont who roots for the St. Louis Cardinals and knows far too much about Marvel Comics, the Kinks and Frank Zappa's Inland Valley years, he is the author of two collections of columns: 'Pomona A to Z' and 'Getting Started.'

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.